 Gordon and St. George will fight to the finish
Only 9 wickets fall in two days of cricket leaving match on a knife’s edge
Day one and two have now been completed at Bankstown Oval and the webmaster apologies for not having an update of day 1. With the St. George score on 3 for 325 on a very good batting wicket, there wasn’t a lot to be said without sounding too biased.
(Two determined batsman Craig Simmons and James Packman leave Bankstown Oval after day 2 of the final)
The St. George batting was very good on a good wicket and Moises Henriques and Graeme Rummans were on top of their games. What I should have said however was that the Gordon bowling and fielding was of a very high standard and the boys didn’t drop their heads at any stage. They are definitely all maturing into a good cricket team, they know they are good enough and they have belief in each other. The youngsters in the team are getting fantastic experience for the years ahead.
(Craig Simmons and James Packman during their partmnership)
The second day started with St. George batting on till 20 minutes after lunch and finishing with 6 for 478 (dec). The bowlers bowled their hearts out in very trying conditions on a wicket that showed no signs of breaking up or deviating. Dylan Connell showed great stamina to finish the first innings with 2 for 65 off 30 overs of unrelenting concentration.
Nicho, Beau, Ed Zelma, Brendan and Craig all tried their hardest and didn’t shirk from the hard work. With one over till tea on day 1, Nicho thought he might do a “Dougie Walters” and gave the ball to Brad Rasool to bowl his first over in grade. The balls that hit the wicket were great and he can now say he has bowled spinners in tandem with Beau Casson.
It is important to be aware here that a draw in this match is a win for Gordon as they are the highest placed finalist after Saints lost their first qualifying final.
(Dylan Connell (with company) amd Beau Casson in action during the final)
So it was time for Gordon to reply and after almost a day and a half in the field Craig Simmons and Iain Beverley opened the innings. This was quite a task for the keeper, however while he only scored 7 he stayed around for a half and hour to take some shine off the new ball. Reece Bombas looked in fine touch before edging to the keeper and just before tea Beau Casson was adjudged LBW.
So at tea with the score at 3 for 46 we were indeed looking shaky.
Not to be alarmed, the webmaster made the prediction that we would be 3 down at stumps and indeed that was the case with the score at the end of the day being 3 for 152 and an unbeaten partnership of 106 between Craig Simmons and James Packman starting to build momentum.
(Reece Bombas and Ed Zelma during the final)
Craig was brutal with the loose ball, however rode his luck with a couple of early chances. These were grassed however and with a score of 82 not out he has now scored 938 runs for the season and has again broken the record for the most runs in a season in any grade for Gordon. You will recall of course that Craig broke the 100 year old record of Charlie Macartney last season and will now set a new mark which we all hope will be well over 1000 runs.
So the game is in the balance and when play starts tomorrow it will be Ian and Gilly Packman sitting 3 metres apart 30 metres left of the grandstand, the President and Vice President to the right of the scoreboard, Mike Beverley in the third row of the boundary seats near the canteen with his left leg on the seat in front, Tiddles with his camera trying to catch Hoppa unaware and the Gordon player contingent all in a row under the trees.
For the record, our No.1 International supporter and web reader James Clarke, who has been living in New York for the last 5 years, was so excited about the first making the final he grabbed a flight on Thursday night, arrived on Friday morning and has been at the ground for the last two days. He is returning on Monday. We have some great supporters.
Go the stags!
Scores
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